To celebrate the International Month of Education in Haiti, ARISE Project For Humanity renews its commitment to provide access to mentorship to the most marginalized young people and adults in Haitian society. while providing opportunities and funding to local startups and entrepreneurship training that meets the needs of the Haitian youth.
This month, we would like to congratulate our 14 Mentees in Jeremie, Haiti for completing their 12 weeks of mentoring in our program in the South of Haiti.
ARISE mentoring programs have impacted 7,000 youth each year located in more than 100 communities spread throughout the country. Despite the educational crisis, food insecurity and growing insecurity in the country, we are constantly fighting against child sex trafficking, exploitation, to empower the young generations to change their mindset, create their life, and impact their community through mentoring.
The exploitation of children in domestic service is compounded by economic hardship in Haiti, with many of the receiving families living in poverty themselves. The restavèk system, often deprives children of their family environment and violates their most basic rights such as the rights to education, health, and food as well as subjecting them to multiple forms of abuse including economic exploitation, sexual violence and corporal punishment.
According to different studies, child domestic workers in Haiti number between 170,000 and 230,000, which represents around 10 percent of the child population aged between 5 and 17. About two-thirds of the child domestic-helpers are girls and they are mostly found in rural areas. There is a tendency for male restavèks to originate from rural areas, whereas girls tend to come from urban areas. As restavèk teens get older, they are commonly tossed to the street to fend for themselves and become victims of other types of abuse and social exclusion.
According to a study by The Lancet, the rate of sexual assault against female restaveks is almost four and a half times greater than that for girls who are not restavèks. Of the female restavèks, one in 19 are sexually assaulted per year, compared with one in 84 girls who are not restavèks.
Many children have been reported as trafficked both within and outside the country every single day!
Our mentors in Haiti continue to work with young people to build protective factors and resiliency, and are in a unique position to speak with youth about what exploitation can look like and how they can protect themselves. In our mentoring curriculum, there are a variety of human trafficking awareness and prevention resources available to our mentors working with youth on the ground in Haiti.
When you invest in mentorship, you help reverse cycles of poverty, ending child sex trafficking, create new opportunities, and transform entire communities. Thank you for believing in a world where everyone has access to mentorship. We’re so grateful to be working alongside you on this mission!